In filmmaker Kim Gwang-tae's weirdly unsettling horror film, the fable of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is transposed to South Korea in the early 1950s. Kim (Ryu Seung-ryong) is a crippled flautist, traveling to Seoul to seek medical help for his tubercular young son. The two stumble into an isolated village, where they are received kindly by the chief (Lee Sung-min). After learning that the place is infested with carnivorous rats, Kim offers to drive the vermin away with his flute in return for money to cover his son's medical expenses. The process involves luring the rodents—a sequence that looks disturbingly real—into a cave where they are trapped, and it requires a mystical ritual as well as music. The chief, however, reneges on his promise to Kim, especially after the piper reveals to the villagers that the Korean War is over, a fact the chief has been keeping secret in order to maintain iron-fisted control. But the old man manages to turn the townspeople against Kim, condemning him as a dangerous outsider—perhaps a Communist spy—and instigating the mob to take action against Kim and his son. This betrayal will induce Kim to take grisly revenge. One senses that The Piper is intended to be a parable about political corruption in South Korea, but its more subtle criticisms will be lost on outsiders, although it is often effective on a basic ghoulish level. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)
The Piper
CJ Entertainment, 119 min., in Korean w/English subtitles and English-dubbed, PG-13, DVD: $19.98, Feb. 2 Volume 31, Issue 2
The Piper
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